So Oct is over, and month 1 of 11 is finished. In that month I…
-fed mal-nourished babies and children
-jumped across a sewage “river” only to walk right back in it
-dug trenches and laid pipes
-built and replaced bio-sand water filters
-joined a pick-up soccer game w/ local kids
-played freeze tag
-played soccer and vball with orphans
-pushed cars out of flooded sewage water
-worshipped God in Spanish
-learned to never assume
-saw how incredibly creative God is
-saw what super obedience looks like
-have teammates pour love into me
-make several mistakes
-really appreciated e-mails from a current world racer
My team, along with team Jubilee arrived in Ometepe, which is an island on the Nicaragua Lake, a 2-hr ride East from Rivas. I just gotta say, next time, I’d gladly pay the extra $ for flying rather than taking 7 different bus rides to travel for 26 cumulative hours over 4 days. 😛
We’re at Cicrin (see-k-rin) Orphanage, that currently houses 12 girls and 8 boys., and a 19-month-old girl. The people are just as nice in Guate, but the air is cleaner, and where we’re currently at (along the lake), the view is breathtaking. Ometepe Island has two volcanoes: Vocana Concepcion, which is active, and Maderas, non-active. I look forward to climbing them in the near future.
You can kiss your family and friends good-byes and put miles behind you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.
–Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth
It’s been about a month and there are definitely things I miss, such as playing organized sports 5 times a week, being able to get cleaned up and stay clean for more than 45 mins, not getting unexplainable rashes all over my legs and/or arms, or eating whatever I feel in the mood to eat.
There are two main things our two teams are involved with here. The first of course is the orphanage and the kids. We don’t get to see them too much, except for meal times and a bit of free time here and there, because they go to school. But we make the most of it when we do.
The other is a church the orphanage is involved with. We’re helping with constructing a building that will be used for their feeding program for that church. Currently, they feed kids from ages anywhere from 3 to maybe 13, at the pastor’s house. Usually the younger kids come eat first and the dishes are washed for the older kids who arrive a bit later. When the building is finished, all the kids will be able to go there to eat.
